Turning Portsmouth High green

Thursday

Dec 5, 2013 at 2:00 AM

It was not tea for two this month, but tea for a crew, and I did not interview an older resident as I usually do, but if you add the ages of the crew all together they might, just might, qualify as having been around long enough for the column.

Tammi Truax

It was not tea for two this month, but tea for a crew, and I did not interview an older resident as I usually do, but if you add the ages of the crew altogether they might, just might, qualify as having been around long enough for the column.

I wanted to profile the Portsmouth High School ECO Club and, in the interest of full disclosure, my daughter is one of the outgoing officers.

The high school has 40 extracurricular clubs that students can join, so the kids really have to give it some thought and select something that truly interests them. In many cases, these clubs were conceived of and started by students.

The ECO Club was founded in 2006. ECO stands for the Environmental Change Organization. Its mission (every club has to have a mission) is to make the school and community more sustainable. The officers explain that means that they are promoting conservation by trying to create less waste, reduce energy consumption, "and informing everyone about sustainable lifestyle techniques." In this club the students serve as teachers, and have lessons for all of us.

This year there are 20 fully active members in the club, and three officers. They are all led by physical science and ecology teacher Mrs. Kimberly McGlinchey, with help from Mrs. Barrett. The officers are; Grace Gordon, Grade 12, Meghan Welsh, Grade 12, and Madison Morris, Grade 11.

The most ambitious undertaking of the club in recent years is one that is just about to come to fruition. The students studied the efficacy of equipping PHS with solar panels, sold the city on the idea, and raised the money through several creative methods to purchase them.

Says their adviser Ms. McGlinchey, "The final activity was using crowd funding resources to raise money. This was called Sell a Cell and we raised the remainder of our $10,000 that way. The Sell a Cell was also community wide and many people bought entire solar panels for $300 each. We are still selling those if anyone is interested. The solar panels are near completion: the checks have been cut and paperwork has been signed, we are now just awaiting an installation date. This was a great four-year program with excellent community support. So many people helped us, including the School Board, Revolution Energy, Principal Collins, local businesses, teachers, etc. I don't think it could have been more successful."

The intention is that the solar panels will heat the hot water in the science wing and, in the long run, the project will pay for itself.

While finalizing that project, the club has not been resting, but has been moving forward on other initiatives telling me, "Our club's only frustration is that we have so many great ideas to make the school more sustainable, but not enough time in the day. We are now going to make a carbon off-set garden and will be selling seedlings for the garden."

That will be their second garden on school grounds. Two years ago they installed a rain garden, which Grace said, —ģis a natural filtration system, it filters the water from the sewer and rain runoff, which is absorbed by the plants in the garden."

They also want to work on creating bike paths at/to PHS. The kids have done truly outstanding work that benefits not just them and their school, but the entire community, and they deserve a great deal of credit, and backing.

This weekend you can see and support them all as the club has chosen to participate again this year in the Portsmouth Christmas Parade. They chose the theme "Greener than the Grinch this season" and explained that the theme represents their initiative to make PHS the greenest school in the state and, they said, "We will be bringing gifts filled with sustainable wishes for all the boys and girls."

Come on out this Saturday and see what they have created.

Tammi Truax is a freelance writer, graduate student and community activist. She can be reached at T4tu@comcast.net.

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